LatinaLista — One is an author, another is a deputy sheriff, another is a pediatric nurse practitioner, the other is an accountant and the last one is an educator and parent support specialist, but what they all have in common is that they are mothers and are the faces for a new campaign called Five Moms: Stopping Teen Cough Medicine Abuse.
The bilingual campaign’s intent is to educate parents about a little-known drug abuse problem happening among teenagers today — getting high off of cough medicine.
According to the site:
Cough medicine abuse happens when teens take extreme amounts—sometimes as much as 25 to 50 times the recommended dose—of cough medicine to get high. The “high” is caused by consuming a large amount of dextromethorphan, the active ingredient in many over-the-counter cough medicines. The reality is that that one out of every 10 teens—more than two million—has abused cough medicine to get high.
The abuse has already generated slang terms for it: “Robo-tripping, Dex-ing, Robo-fizzing, and Skittling.” The kids refer to themselves as “syrup heads” or “robotards.”
The 5 mothers are working with the Consumer Healthcare Products Association to spread the word about cough medicine abuse so that families can avoid the sad and deathly consequences of cough medicine abuse.
The goal of the campaign is simple — alert more parents that cough medicine abuse is happening.
For symptoms of the abuse, its consequences and how to talk to teens about it, visit the five moms website.
